The charming canine from an island village is a ray of sunshine for boys and girls who love animals

Kingi has now reached the grand age of 15 and is the self-appointed top dog in his family’s pack. In his younger days, Kingi was very yappy, especially towards other male dogs, but over the years he’s softened, so that now his family treats him like a lapdog.

Kingi doesn’t even feel like running off any more – the old dog’s legs are starting to get worn out. Fortunately he’s got friends who come to visit. And when a young male dog comes to town, even the serene old fellow can still find it in himself to kick up a fuss. His master and mistress have to remember that dogs will always be dogs, and a human is the leader of the pack.

Kingi series: Kingi of the Island (2007), Kingi Goes Fishing (2008),Kingi at Large (2009) and Kingi and the Perky Puppy (2010).

Eppu Nuotio, Kingi and the Perky Puppy – (Kingi ja ponteva pentu)

Illustrated by Katri Kirkkopelto

Arrgh! The dignified life of the grand old man of the island is put to the test by a wild little Tibetan mastiff pup.

Kingi and Susse Maiden’s spring begins sadly when the oldest of the dogs dies. The whole village mourns the death of Miska, and Kingi thinks that he will never be happy again. Then the Boy and the Walking Stick Lady come back from the village with a whirling ball of fluff.

It’s horrible. The puppy, who is always getting into everything, plans to stay and live in Kingi’s house! Kingi will never forgive his family. In any case, he certainly won’t let the puppy sleep on his sofa! On the other hand, Silvi Squirrel (for that is her name), when she’s sleeping, looks like a little bear cub… she’s kind of… sweet, really.

Multi-talented cultural creator Eppu Nuotio has written numerous acclaimed children’s books, novels, radio plays, dramas, and song lyrics, as well as TV movies and music videos. She lives with her family in the Gulf of Finland archipelago.

Eppu Nuotio, Kingi at Large – (Kingi karkuteillä)

Illustrated by Katri Kirkkopelto

Bow wow! Kingi, a sofa-sized gentleman dog, friend of the two and four-legged, will charm both girls and boys.

Kingi is very content living on the island, until one day when a herd of deer is standing in the road. When no one lifts a finger to chase off these apple tree eaters, Kingi decides to take charge. He chases after the reindeer, and out of the yard, without permission.

While he is at large, Kingi meets some strange creatures: an absent-minded badger, an angry coon dog, and an adventurous baby seal. When he finally comes home exhausted, he is greatly astonished. “Huh,” he thinks, “They didn’t even notice I was gone… Well… that’s fine with me! I can keep up my independent travelling and widen my horizons…”

Multi-talented cultural creator Eppu Nuotio has written numerous acclaimed children’s books, novels, radio plays, dramas, and song lyrics, as well as TV movies and music videos. She lives with her family in the Gulf of Finland archipelago.

The popular Kingi series include already the books Kingi of the Island(2007), Kingi Goes Fishing (2008), Kingi at Large (2009), and Kingi and the Perky Puppy.

“A heartfelt book…” – Onnimanni magazine’s review of Kingi of the Island (2007), the first book in the series, which was also chosen by a jury of children for the LukuVarkaus Prize.

Eppu Nuotio, Kingi Goes Fishing – (Kingi kalassa)

Illustrated by Katri Kirkkopelto

It’s summer, and Kingi the dog has begun to feel at home on the island, taking his pleasure at fetch, boating, and stupendous dives into the water.

One evening the Boy notices something awful: Kingi’s ears have swelled up like balloons, and when he touches them, Kingi howls in pain. The veterinarian tells them that Kingi’s fishing habit has wreaked havoc on his ears. They’re going to have to operate.

The anaesthesia for the operation is dangerous for an old dog’s heart, but Kingi comes out alright – although afterward he looks like a space dog with his injured ears protected by a cone.

Kingi, a ten-year-old, sofa-sized gentleman dog, friend to the two and four-legged, will charm young and old!

Multi-talented cultural creator Eppu Nuotio has written numerous acclaimed children’s books, novels, radio plays, dramas, and song lyrics, as well as TV movies and music videos. She lives with her family in the Gulf of Finland archipelago.

The popular Kingi series include already the books Kingi of the Island(2007), Kingi Goes Fishing (2008), Kingi at Large (2009), and Kingi and the Perky Puppy.

Eppu Nuotio, Kingi of the Island – (Koko saaren Kingi)

Illustrared by Katri Kirkkopelto

Kingi, a large, black gentleman dog, friend to both the two and four-legged, is a charmer!“I am presentable, an aficionado of walkies, good food, cuddles, and lounging on the sofa, seeking a companion for a serious relationship…”

Kingi has placed two ads now, but no one has bitten. It’s time to come clean: “I am a dog. My owner is sick, and I need a new home. Take me.”

Kingi has lived in Helsinki all his life, and he’s not a small dog. In the eyes of most of the passers-by he is almost frighteningly large. But they don’t know him. They don’t know that he is an exceedingly lovable creature with the soul of a lap dog.

Kingi is used to taking a morning walk to the Sibelius monument, a midday walk to the Market Square, and an evening walk downtown. He likes to ride the streetcar and the subway, and knows almost all the bus routes. He can’t even imagine living in the country, because he loves the bustling feel of the city! But who would want to take a 10-year-old black dog that takes up the whole sofa into their little city apartment?

A new home is indeed found, but it’s far away. In the middle of the ocean, in a tiny village a ferry ride and boat trip away, at the home of an old lady dog and her great grandchildren.

Multi-talented cultural creator Eppu Nuotio has written numerous acclaimed children’s books, novels, radio plays, dramas, and song lyrics, as well as TV movies and music videos. She lives with her family in the Gulf of Finland archipelago.

The popular Kingi series include already the books Kingi of the Island(2007), Kingi Goes Fishing (2008), Kingi at Large (2009), and Kingi and the Perky Puppy.

The exotic guests who fill up a guest house and their exciting stories

12-year-old Delfina and her great-granddad, recently arrived from South America, have created quite a stir in a little Finnish coastal town. Now a summer full of surprises and activity is under way at the guesthouse they have set up. Numerous changes in the lives of the residents of the guesthouse and their friends and relatives mean that both the temperamental Delfina and her best friend Waskeri have to adapt.

Eppu Nuotio and Tuutikki Tolonen portray the vibrancy of multiculturalism in their enjoyable Pension Onnela series.

“Lovely, bright, and warm,” is how Delfina advertises autumn at the boarding house. And although the autumn rains darken the sunshine, there are plenty of guests. One stormy evening a retired Russian cosmonaut named Dmitri arrives. Then Aurelie from France comes to stay – she’s heard that Onnela is sans-souci – “carefree, and trouble free.” It suits people who have had too many cares and troubles…

After the long, dark autumn comes Christmas, and Wasker learns why Delfina and Ernesto have been whispering about tomatoes all through the fall.

Eppu Nuotio has written numerous acclaimed children’s books as well as thrillers for adults. Tuutikki Tolonen teaches language arts to children and young people and works actively in the field of children’s culture. Delfina’s Trunk, the first book in the Pension Onnelaseries, appeared in 2007.

Argentinian temperament meets Finnish small-town atmosphere. The enjoyment in this likeable series comes from a clash of cultures.

The lights at the Onnela Boarding House are on all night long as Abuelo Ernesto sits yearning for his little hometown in Argentina. Delfina doesn’t want to go there, but what can she do? He’s already bought the tickets. And they’re one-way tickets. The driver Risto, his heart-throb Aurelie, and the Argentinian aunts Dania and Elena will be left behind to take care of Onnela.

Delfina’s friend Wasker is holed up in his room and has no intention of ever coming out again. But then Mormor calls and suggests a little trip across the sea.

Eppu Nuotio has written numerous acclaimed children’s books as well as thrillers for adults. Tuutikki Tolonen teaches language arts to children and young people. The previous books in this fast-paced series are Delfina’s Trunk (2007) and The Stuffed Tomato Winter(2008).

A bouncy and colourful new series that introduces readers to foreign cultures

The run-down wooden villa that has stood silent and empty for years in the centre of a small seaside town is suddenly buzzing with life. One summer day, an odd couple arrives from South America – an elderly gent with magnificent whiskers and an old-fashioned taste in clothes, accompanied by his 12-year-old granddaughter Delfina Lorena Soledad Maribel.The newcomers set up the Pension Onnela, the running of which Enesto leaves in the capable hands of his determined granddaughter. As her assistant, Delfina enrols the neighbour’s boy Waskeri, who is making notes for his first novel.Before very long, the first paying guests arrive, with their own astonishing tales to tell – and Waskeri’s notebooks get more and more interesting by the day.Tuutikki Tolonen and Eppu Nuotio have worked together for some years, and have jointly written two previous books for girls. Nuotio is the author of several acclaimed works for children and thrillers for the adult audience. Tolonen teaches creative writing to children and young adults.

Eppu Nuotio, The End – (Loppu)

In the final instalment of this highly praised series, Pii Marin finally encounters her father

“Yes, I can feel the fear when I see it. The fear filled him from his trembling feet to his perspiring forehead. The fear flowed from his eyes as he begged me not to kill him, to let him go.”

Henna and Mikko buy the home of their dreams, not realising there is a mould problem lurking underneath the house that would threaten their happy family life. Their exhausting battle against the wily vendor ends when he suddenly vanishes. During the course of the investigation by Pii Marin’s partner, Chief Inspector Juha Heino, it emerges that the police are searching for two missing persons. Pii is also on the trail of someone who vanished. After a number of dead ends, she finally meets her father, whose shadow she has been hunting for years. In this final volume of the series, Pii comes face to face with some big questions. Although all the pieces of the jigsaw have been put together, she does not recognise herself in the picture.

Eppu Nuotio’s crime novels featuring Pii Marin have put her among the vanguard of Finnish crime writers. Previous novels in this series areBlack, Payback, Revenge, Shadow and Pressure.

Eppu Nuotio, Pressure – (Paine)

How do you escape an agonising relationship when both people refuse to leave?

“Pasi, I’m begging you. Don’t torture me any longer. Go away. Leave me in peace.” Iris attaches the tag in front of the mirror. She’s more exhausted every night, she can’t take it much longer. Pasi thinks it’s all her fault. She spoiled their home life.

In this thriller from the Pii Marin series, Pii’s brother Joel moves in next door to Iris and Pasi, and finds himself in the middle of a divorce drama. Why is Iris afraid of Pasi, who everyone sees as such a good man?

During their first vacation together, Pii and Juha Heino try to figure out how Pii’s Tanzanian father died. Pii is impatient at their slow progress, and when new facts about her father are revealed, they are unlike anything she could have imagined.

Eppu Nuotio’s popular Pii Marin thrillers have been compared to the works of Liza Marklund. The series includes the novels Black (2006), Payback (2007), Revenge (2008) and Shadow (2009).

Eppu Nuotio, Shadow – (Varjo)

The fourth book in the Pii Marin detective series takes on a hot topic – honour killings.

A murdered woman is found on the waterfront, wearing a wedding gown. When her identity is established, authorities realise that her fiancé is also missing.

It becomes apparent that the dead bride was Shabina, the daughter of a Muslim family, a student of women studies at the university, who was engaged to a Finnish Christian man. The police begin to suspect an honour killing.

Pii and Juha Heino sort out their past differences. The suspicion of honour killing has Pii seething, and she begins to gather up the strands of the case. A friend of the murdered bride tells her that Shabina was being followed by someone, and the trail finally leads to an apartment door that reads “Shadow”.

Eppu Nuotio’s popular thrillers have the dark-skinned journalist Pii Marin as their star. Previous books in the series are Black, Revenge, and Payback.

Eppu Nuotio, Payback – (Maksu)

A nine-month old baby is snatched from its pram while sleeping in the yard of a city apartment block. The first snow of winter falls to cover the kidnapper’s escape route, which has been planned to the last detail.
Pii Marin gets a visitor in the shape of her brother Joel, who wants time and distance to get over a recent case of assault. Pii has no objections to the arrangement, as these days she is spending an increasing share of her nights at Inspector Juha Heino’s place.

To Pii’s annoyance, however, her boyfriend seems intent on sharing the most interesting matters with his female junior, Reija Haukka. Haukka has been given charge of her first criminal case, and in Pii’s eyes at least she appears to be leaning too often on Heino’s experience in tracking the kidnapper.

Payback will also appear simultaneously as an audiobook read by the author herself.

Eppu Nuotio’s gripping thrillers have been well received. Her first Pii Marin novel Black is also being made into a movie produced by MRP Matila Röhr Productions.

”An excellent point from which to take this series in any direction she likes”, enthused Helsingin Sanomat about Eppu Nuotio’s previous Pii Marin thriller, Revenge (2007).

Eppu Nuotio, Revenge – (Kosto)

Pii Marin’s lengthy convalescent leave ends and she finds herself back in the chaos of the TV-studio: the regional programming unit is shooting a provincial version of the Big Brother reality show.Just after Pii’s return, something totally unscripted happens in the Big Brother household – a macabre twist in the plot that the production team had not predicted. One of the inmates, 25-year-old Liina Palonen, is found very dead on the tiled floor of the sauna, as the cameras roll and transmit the discovery live into viewers’ living-rooms. The murder investigation brings Chief Inspector Juha Heino and Pii together once more, but does their relationship have any chance of surviving?After an acclaimed trilogy of novels documenting recent history, Eppu Nuotio switched gears and delivered a first-rate thriller in Black, introducing a character who instantly won over a wide readership. The novel is also to be made into a film. In her new book, Nuotio offers a fascinating glimpse into the extreme phenomena of modern TV entertainment.

Eppu Nuotio, Black – (Musta)

A young TV-journalist on the trail of a serial killer;
a new departure in Finnish thriller writing

Pii Marin works as a TV-journalist in a regional programming unit of the Finnish Broadcasting Company. In her recent past is a brief spell in the spotlight as Finland’s first coloured television newsreader.
The brutal slaying of a female cleric, eight months pregnant, sends shockwaves through the normally sleepy regional office and is the lead item on the nationwide news. Although the story is soon whisked out of local hands as Helsinki takes over coverage of the murder investigation, Pii has personal reasons to continue her search for the truth. And she has no idea what dangers she is getting into.After a trilogy of very well-received novels documenting recent history, Eppu Nuotio takes on a new genre. Black is an almost painfully exciting and thoroughly credible serial killer thriller. Pii Marin herself is an irresistible character, who will certainly leave readers shouting for more. Black has come to stay. The novel is also to be made into a film.

Eppu Nuotio, Happy Ending (Onnellinen loppu)

In the closing instalment of Eppu Nuotio’s

very successful trilogy of recent history, the
skeletons come out of the closet in the Lehmus
family home.

It is the present-day. The paper-mill in the provincial town of
Varkaus has long since been sold off to the state. With the sale,
engineer and mill manager Aimo Lehmus has lost his status as
local demigod, and he spends his retirement in the decaying
family home with his wife Marjatta and her ageing mother.Daughter Annukka Lehmus lives in Helsinki and is just
getting over a recent broken relationship. Her ties with her
parents are distant in more than just kilometres.The skeletons in the family closet are released when
Annukka receives a call from the hospital. An old woman lying
in a coma on the ward has listed as her nearest next-of-kin one
Annukka Lehmus.Eppu Nuotio’s novels Papermill Girl (Peiton paikka, 2003)
and Maiden Voyage (Neitsytmatka, 2004) were both well
received by critics and public alike. Happy Ending rounds off
the trilogy. “Maiden Voyage is a truly fi rst-rate novel. The only
fly in the ointment is that the story is left unfi nished”, wrote one
Finnish reviewer of the second episode. That fl aw has now been
corrected.

The ‘70s are drawing to a close. Annukka Lehmus has reached her teens. Her father has been promoted to become deputy manager of the local paper mill, and – like Annukka herself – spends precious little time at home
these days.Annukka’s mother shuts herself away in their house, one of the handsomest properties in the
mill-town of Varkaus, and she is ultimately confined to a mental hospital. She becomes “Varkaus’s
First Madwoman”.Annukka wants to shrug off the depressing atmosphere of home. Despite dire threats of the conse quences, she hangs out with the daughter of a Communist family, tries desperately to lose her virginity, marches against nuclear power – and runs squarely up against her father, whose role as a mill boss in the small town sets him on the right hand of God himself.Maiden Voyage continues the story of Annukka that began with Eppu Nuotio’s previous offering Papermill Girl (Peiton paikka, 2003), which was very well received by the public and was described in the literary periodical Parnasso as “entertaining, touching, and a well-crafted read”.

Eppu Nuotio, Papermill Girl (Peiton paikka)

A narrative delight! An amusing and appealing novel about the growth-pangs of a young girl in the Finland of the 1960s, amid social upheavals, the landfall of television, and Tupperware parties.

Annukka Lehmus comes into this world in 1962, in the same year as Marilyn Monroe leaves it. She grows up in the small town of Varkaus, a community dominated by the Ahlström sawmill.Her family differs in many ways from those of the neighbours, but plucky little Annukka lives her life without undue worries or cares. She becomes a survivor in the mould of Astrid Lindgren’s character Pippi Longstocking, replacing those missing pieces of life’s jigsaw with others from her own colourful imagination.The novel follows the growth of Annukka and the Lehmus family through to the early 1970s. Aside from being a delightful story of the child’s world, Eppu Nuotio’s book paints a rich and detailed picture of recent Finnish history, with the rise of the paper industry, the sweeping social changes of the 60s decade, and the breakthrough of television – including Peyton Place, the source of the punning Finnish title – into Finnish homes.The author manages to weave a warm humour into her tragic and touching tale in a manner that leaves the reader laughing and crying by turns.Eppu Nuotio is known as a writer of children’s fiction, an actress, a drama teacher, translator, director, and playwright. This year she has been seen in a leading role in a TV drama series about two sisters, for which she also wrote the screenplay.